Death toll in Zamboanga ambush rises to 13

ZAMBOANGA CITY — The death toll in Thursday’s ambush by suspected Muslim rebels of employees of a Canadian mining company in Zamboanga del Norte has risen to 13, with 11 others wounded, authorities said.

This developed as at least one person was killed and six others were seriously wounded in separate grenade and bomb attacks in Pikit, North Cotabato and S.K. Pendatun, Maguindanao.

Maj. Julieto Ando, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said a 30-year-old teacher was killed and four others were hurt late Thursday when one of two motorcycle-riding men hurled a grenade at a food stall about 50 meters from the Pikit town hall and police station.

Separately, two people were wounded when a homemade bomb exploded near a market in S.K. Pendatun shortly before noon the other day.

No groups claimed responsibility for the two incidents, and the military would not say if they were the work of MILF rebels or if the attacks were connected.

The military blamed the ambush of workers of Toronto Ventures Inc. Pacific in Baliguian, Zamboanga del Norte and Tuesday’s bomb blast in Datu Piang, Maguindanao that killed the town’s mayor and 16 others on Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels.

MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu, however, denied any involvement, saying, "We don’t kill innocent people; besides, the MILF is currently negotiating peace with the government."

Police say the MILF had been extorting money from the Calgary-based mining firm Toronto Ventures Inc. Pacific.

The Catholic charity Caritas-Philippines says the Canadian mining company has been harassing tribesmen opposed to mining operations on their ancestral lands, where many of their dead are buried.

Company officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Kabalu said his forces pulled out of Zamboanga del Norte in June after government troops killed a key leader of the Abu Sayyaf, a smaller but more violent Muslim group linked with the al-Qaeda international terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.

Guerrillas from the communist New People’s Army also operate in the area, along with the Abu Sayyaf and the MILF. – Roel Pareño, John Unson